Software Testing Tools Blog – Testertools

Compuware Corporation (Nasdaq:CPWR), the technology performance company, have today announced a webinar featuring Forrester Research, Inc. Vice President and software testing expert Margo Visitacion.

The webinar, titled “Testing Tools Landscape” will examine how to develop a test game plan to make load testing an integral part of the software development lifecycle.

When: Thursday, February 17, 1 p.m. ET

What: Gone are the days when application development and delivery teams could cavalierly ask the business to pick two: cost, time or quality – the business needs all three. To reduce schedule-killing rework, improve user satisfaction and reduce the risks of untested nonfunctional requirements such as security and performance, quality must move beyond just the testing organization and become an integrated part of the entire software development life cycle (SDLC).

These new requirements have motivated vendors to provide tools that support every role in the organization, resulting in broadening of the testing tools landscape. In this webinar, the experts will discuss:
*  why load testing can make the difference;
*  how planning performance testing today can help budget planning tomorrow; and
*  how to develop your test game plan.

Presenters: Margo Visitacion, vice president, Forrester Research and Matt Poepsel, VP Performance
Strategies, Compuware

Blackberry maker Research in Motion added to its growing list of acquisitions on Friday with the purchase of mobile development startup TinyHippos, the company announced in a recent blog post. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Ontario-based TinyHippos is the creator of a multi-platform mobile environment emulator known as Ripple. This tool enables developers to “look under the hood” of mobile applications to evaluate their performance in a number of environments, according to TechCrunch. Ripple is also designed to provide testing and debugging services for HTML5 mobile apps.

Tyler Lessard (News – Alert), vice president of Global Alliances and Developer Relations at RIM, said that the company has been “integrating support for Web technologies like HTML5 and BlackBerry WebWorks into our developer platform, and working to continually deliver enhanced tools and frameworks to our developer community.”

“We look forward to working with the team at tinyHippos to further provide a simplified and streamlined experience to our developers,” he added.

For RIM, the acquisition comes just weeks before it plans on launching its first tablet computer, the Playbook. RIM’s new offering will differ slightly from its line of business-focused mobile products. The Playbook will offer support for the Android (News – Alert) Market, enabling users to have access to as many as 200,000 applications and games.

The Canada-based company announced last week that it’s highly anticipated tablet will hit Best Buy stores on April 19. The tablet will eventually be available for purchase at more than 20,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada, including at AT&T, Verizon, RadioShack, Sears Canada and Walmart, according to the AP.

As expected, the Playbook’s pricing will be in line with the dominant leader in the tablet game, the Apple iPad 2. The 16-gigabyte WiFi (News – Alert)-enabled Playbook will cost $499, while the 32- and 66-gig models will retail at $599 and $699, respectively.

Automation Anywhere (www.AutomationAnywhere.com), a global leader in automation software and automated testing software, today announced that its 2010 sales were twice those of 2009. The Fourth Quarter of 2010 was also the best quarter in the company’s history with 150% growth compared to the same period in 2009.

Automation Anywhere’s next generation of automation and testing tools are being used by a wide mix of Fortune 500 companies as well as small to medium sized businesses. A few of the new customers in 2010 include Interactive Data, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, NGC (Northrop Grumman Corporation), Burlington Coat Factory and Lenovo.
“The Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles monitors critical functions within our legacy clinical laboratory information systems. We had been looking for an off-the-shelf replacement for these unsupported routines,” said Mike Wagner, Application Specialist, Clinical Support Systems, EIS, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. “We contacted Automation Anywhere and they were able to build a working solution within a few hours of collaboration on one of our most complicated routines. Automation Anywhere is a powerful, innovative tool and many of us here at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are excited by the value Automation Anywhere is bringing and we plan to expand the usage even more.”

“We have a very strong business model that is delivering superior client value and earnings,” said Mihir Shukla, CEO of Automation Anywhere. “Our customer-focused strategies have enabled us to meet or exceed our goals in all metrics including margins revenue growth, new product introductions, average order size and deeper penetration into our Fortune 1000 customers. Earlier this year we re-branded ourselves from Tethys Solutions to Automation Anywhere and that has allowed us to invest our marketing dollars in a single brand. In 2010 we expanded significantly in the finance, technology and healthcare sectors. We now have more than 200 of the Fortune 500 companies as customers. Our new Unicode product line has allowed us to further our reach in Fortune 100 companies and internationally.”

2010 Automation Anywhere Growth Highlights include:
- 100% growth in revenues in 2010 over 2009.
- A new and expanded development center in India.
- A new and expanded office in San Jose, USA.
- Sales continue to happen globally, with particular success coming in North America, Asia and Europe.
- Continued growth of Automation Anywhere and Testing Anywhere product lines.

Key Advancements in 2010 include:

Launch of Testing 6.5 and Object Avatar — Testing Anywhere’s Object Avatar is a new object-based testing tool that significantly reduces development and modification time. This approach means users don’t have to re-record test cases with each object change and there is no need to access a live application to create or modify test cases.

Release of Automation Anywhere 6.5 Server Edition — The most recent edition of Automation Anywhere 6.5 Server Edition includes improved web services integration, better management of complex environments and XML integration.

Release of new Automation Anywhere (Unicode version) – Automation Anywhere released a new version of our Unicode product line in 2010 allowing users to create and run automation processes in more than 40 languages. It expands native language supports to over 500+ automation actions allowing non-English speaking customers to work with their native language and allowing English speaking customers to expand the reach of automation to multi-lingual websites and software.

Increased Visibility:

Automation Anywhere continues to see growing visibility in the press. Media coverage in 2010 included:
- NetworkWorld: NetworkWorld wrote this case study on how the New York Credit Union eases processing pains through automation.
- Redmond Magazine Product Review: Automation Anywhere received 9.6 out of 10 stars and reported: “There’s one underlying, fundamental truth in IT: Those that run networks are overworked. Thankfully, network-automation products like Automation Anywhere Server make life easier by automating complex or repetitive tasks.” Brien Posey, Redmond Magazine
- SD Times: One of the leading application developer publications covered Automation Anywhere’s launch of Testing Anywhere’s Avatar functionality, reporting: “The tool automatically identifies new screens and objects (or only picks up objects specified by the user) from a live application, which are then captured in a test case and placed into Testing Anywhere’s repository. The live application is essentially virtualized, forming the ‘Avatar’ for the identification and modification of objects.”
- Windows IT Pro: Windows IT Pro gave Automation Anywhere a positive review, reporting: “Automation Anywhere Enterprise is a full-featured, multi-environment workflow automation tool with an extensive set of task templates.”

According to a report on the  NewsFactor website, Adobe have announced plans to unveil a Flash to HTML5 conversion Application.

The software, titled wallaby, will enable developers to reuse and extend the reach of content to iOS devices that do not support the Flash runtimes, such as Apple’s iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Content creators will be able to edit their converted files by hand or through the use of standard HTML editing tools. Output also can be viewed in a WebKit-based browser such as Chrome or Safari running on OSX and Windows PCs machines as well as mobile devices running iOS 4.2, noted John Nack, Adobe Systems’ principal product manager, mobile.

“Wallaby’s design goal was not to produce final-form HTML ready for deployment to web pages,” Nack wrote in a blog. “Instead it focuses on converting the rich animated graphical content into a form that can easily be imported into other web pages in development with web page design tools like Dreamweaver.

To find out more please go to the article titled Adobe Unveils Flash-to-HTML5 Conversion App .

Micro Focus® (LSE.MCRO.L), the leading provider of enterprise application modernisation, testing and management solutions, today announced a new release of its market-leading Silk integrated testing suite. Micro Focus SilkPerformer,SilkTest and SilkCentral Test Manager (SCTM) 2010 R2 provide a range of new capabilities for software testers and QA professionals, including goal-based testing, configuration testing and extended support for an improved configuration suite, and support for additional development environments and web 2.0 applications.

SilkCentral Test Manager 2010 R2 adds major new capabilities for visibility and control over today’s test environments, starting with a new goal-based test management system that focuses resources on the areas most sensitive for quality, allowing software teams to make risk-driven decisions. Making goal-based testing more powerful are facilities to easily manage and track the results of configuration tests across complex application environment combinations. Code coverage analysis, which has been extended from Java to .Net, provides a powerful goal-based measure of how effective tests are in covering the system. Additionally, new test execution video capture provides insight into what happens during tests, including analysing the speed at which a test is resolved across different internet browsers.

SilkTest 2010 R2 adds support for Adobe Flash Version 4.x, as well as Java AWT/Swing, and offers Micro Focus WorkBench enhancements including a visual testing approach that requires no coding. The new version of SilkPerformer includes improved AJAX load testing capabilities and extended support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Citrix Online plug-in 12, Citrix Web Interface 5.3., Flex 4 and OpenSSL 1.0.0.a.

Tom Murphy, Research Director, Gartner Inc., highlights the importance of software testing for businesses; “Testing software can be an expensive process, but poor software quality leads to user dissatisfaction, as well as increased development and maintenance. Therefore, having a well-defined set of tools and practices to drive software quality will positively affect the overall business bottom line.”*

Bruce Craig, general manager, Australia and New Zealand at Micro Focus, adds: “It is hard to overstate the importance software testing has to the smooth running of a business. If applications fail, it costs organisations valuable time and money to fix the resulting problems. The Silk product line ensures that software is comprehensively tested and delivered to the highest quality standards, producing better applications in a faster timeframe.”

For more information on the updated Silk products, visit: http://www.microfocus.com/products/silk/

ReadWriteWeb have featured an article on Affordable Testing Tools for samll business.

In the article, titled 3 Affordable A/B Testing Tools For Small Businesses , the author identifies the rationale of using an A/B Testing Tool and identifies 3 great tools at an affordable cost.

Sure, your company’s website could be improved. But with time and resources in such short supply, how do businesses know where to focus their energy? One answer is A/B testing, or the practice of publishing two variations of a Web page and measuring which one performs better.

A/B testing has been used by large enterprises for years. Amazon uses it to optimize product listing pages. Google was once criticized by an outgoing designer for relying too heavily on data-driven methods like this.

In general, A/B testing involves segmenting site traffic into different groups and showing each group a different version of the same landing page. Perhaps one page will contain different headline text or a different call-to-action button style. Another page will serve as the “goal” for the desired conversion. For example, a newsletter sign-up confirmation page or the final check-out page in an e-commerce shopping cart. The software will figure out which version of the page resulted in more clicks or conversions.

A/B testing hasn’t historically been cheap, but in recent years, more affordable solutions have become available, enabling smaller businesses to take advantage of it. Below are a few options worth checking out.

To find out more go to: 3 Affordable A/B Testing Tools For Small Businesses .

informit.com have featured an extract from a new Visual Studio Software testing book.

The book is titled Software Testing with Visual Studio 2010: Planning Your Testing and published by Addison-Wesley Professional

To begin, you need a plan. The plan does not need to be 500 pages of documentation or a massive Gantt chart. This chapter covers how to create a Test Plan with Microsoft Test Manager (MTM) and the various options that the Test Plan provides to you. More important, this chapter covers what to test and how to get involved as a tester early in the development process. In addition, Microsoft provides a little-used Test Plan Word template that can help answer some questions about the testing process up front.

Another key item covered here is how to plan and test for multiple iterations. Can you reuse your Test Cases, and does it make sense to do that? Many items come into play when planning the testing for an entire release versus a single iteration. By the end of this chapter, you will know how to use the Plan tab of MTM, create new plans, and create a framework for testers to work in for a given period of time.

Research by Testuff Ltd. (http://www.testuff.com), a provider of on-demand services for managing and executing manual and automation software tests, and for reporting defects, Shows That 27% of Test Management Tool Users Rely on Email as a Bug Tracker. Paid Solutions FogBugz (Fog Creek) and Jira (Atlassian), Next on the List With 20% and 16%

Testuff has today released a series of bug tracker tools usage statistics, based on information found on the company’s large database.

In the data research the company holds, some interesting, and perhaps even surprising, numbers were found. One notable statistic is no doubt the percentage of users who are still working with their Email application as a bug tracking solution. Unlike the common belief, it seems that many users in the testing industry choose to work with a test management system, even before they have a bug tracker.

The industry’s belief that – in a company’s tools selection process – the bug tracker is selected prior to the test management tool, is therefore untrue for over 1/4 of users.

According to Testuff Ltd’s findings, the two other top solutions on the list are the paid solutions FogBugz and Jira, with 20% and 16% of users opting for these respectively. Only then do the open source solutions (and other paid solutions) appear, with the highest reaching only about 1/3 of these numbers. This is quite surprising, as many of the open source solutions have a high profile online presence, and it was thought that they capture a larger audience than the data now shows.

One possible explanation for this, is the fact that for many, these open-source solutions are not free, as they are serviced as hosted solutions.

Another conclusion to be drawn from the data is that SaaS solutions are favoured by bug tracker users more than before, following the global SaaS trend.

Janova, a provider of web-based, automated software testing solutions formerly known as Arc Consultants, today announced a new pricing structure for all its solutions.

Janova’s Basic, Professional, and Enterprise solutions have been redesigned with added features and are available at new price points, starting at $10 per month to create unlimited tests. In addition, Janova has redesigned its site to accompany the new pricing structure.

Janova is an English-based, automated software testing tool that streamlines the often burdensome task of software implementation with an efficient, easy-to-use solution that runs tests up to 20 times faster, while decreasing implementation times by up to 40 percent[1]. Tests are run securely in the cloud, with nothing to download and no infrastructural investment required. Users can access Janova from anywhere with an Internet connection and receive detailed reporting in seconds.

“Janova has designed its new packages to consider the demands of different sizes of organizations,” said Jeff Lusenhop, founder and chief executive officer, Janova. “We aim to augment any client’s operation, no matter how big or small, with our revolutionary tools that are redefining software testing. Janova is proud to be based in New Albany, and as we continue to expand our staff and offices, we look forward to our continued growth benefiting the entire community.”

Pricing and availability
Pricing of Janova solutions starts at $10 per month for unlimited tests. To review the new pricing and features in more detail or to sign up for a free 15-day trial, visit: http://www.janova.us/index.php/products/pricing-a-comparison.

Intel subsidy Wind River, which sells embedded and mobile software, has introduced updated versions of its Wind River Platform for Android and Wind River (News – Alert) Framework for Automated Software Testing for Android “to help developers deliver Android devices to market quickly and reliably,” in the words of company officials.

Additionally, Wind River Platform for Android (News – Alert), a commercial software platform based on the Android software development kit, includes upgrade paths to future Android releases, company officials say, “including Gingerbread and Honeycomb to support a wider range of devices such as tablets.”

Michael Krutz, vice president of worldwide solutions and services at Wind River, said in the rush to develop Android devices, “device manufacturers must still contend with product development issues such as software quality and Android compliance, while also building distinctive and innovative products.” He added that Wind River provides software to develop Android devices “so device manufacturers can focus the majority of their efforts on the differentiating features that set their products apart from the competition.”

What this means is that Wind River Platform for Android now includes DLNA Digital Media Server (DMS) functionality. This lets an Android device act as a DMS and share its media files, such as movies, music or photos, with other networked DLNA-certified devices across a digital home. Calling it “a key differentiator for larger screen Android devices,” company officials say the Wind River Platform for Android offers a multi-windowing experience, “such as concurrent active application windows, windows movement, resizing and theme support.”